The consequences of the Great War affected pretty much everyone in the world. Four great empires fell, and the war gave rise to many new nations. Large social movements such as fascism and communism grew as a result, and huge leaps were made in technology. By 1918, tanks, diesel fuel, fighter and bomber planes, and large planes that could be used as airliners were invented. There were almost 30 million casualties during the war, with many more after the war due to disease.

In the early 1900’s, there was feverish nationalism in European nations, there were violent workers strikes, and major social upheaval. “A German Europe” was how many people described the early 1900’s political situation, not only Germans either. Germany had emerged as the lead power in Europe after the 1870’s from the Franco-Prussian war under the Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, which I will cover later. By 1914, Berlin was the cultural capitol of Europe. Many British ministers and Russian leading Bolsheviks had studied and been educated in Germany. Germany had even replaced England as the industrial giant of Europe. Many people dreamed of a multi-national German Commonwealth. It wasn’t very far-fetched either, a German Commonwealth could defend Europe from an attack from England or the United States, it would have its own natural resources, and a strong coal and steel industry. It would even have colonies in Africa and Asia, considering that Africa, India, and most of South-East Asia were controlled by European countries anyway. China and the Ottoman Empire were ready to collapse, meaning that a German Commonwealth of European Nations would have little to no resistance.

Germany had been allied with Austria-Hungary since 1879. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was very shaky, mostly due to mismanagement and cultural differences between its people. While every other country in Europe was having high levels of nationalism and unity, Austria-Hungary had 15 different versions of their national anthem! Emperor Franz Joseph I had been on the Austrian throne since 1848 and was 84 years old by 1914. He was very out of place in a modern Europe and made some very questionable decisions. One example was his decision in 1908 to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was mostly controlled by the Ottoman Empire. This made everyone in Europe angry, especially the Ottomans. There were many protests from other countries and empires, the most fervent coming from Bosnia’s neighbor, Serbia. Slavic and Baltic nations became very anti-Austrian. Austria’s army was ten times the size of the British army, but they still spent less money on their army than the British did. This meant that the Austrian army was outdated and under-equipped. This was mostly due to the lack of money caused by the Austrian government’s strategy of trying to pay off their smaller member nations, which didn’t work. When Vienna realized that this strategy wasn’t working, they created a new one, which was, to do, NOTHING AT ALL. The Austrian government hoped that the political and cultural tension would just resolve itself and go away, a huge mistake.

There had been no real war in Europe for 40 years because of a complicated system of alliances that were constantly changing. The Triple Alliance was comprised of Germany, Austria, and Italy. Italy was not really counted on to take action if a war broke out though. France and England had been allied, even though in the early 1900’s, they both had war plans to invade each other. Germany and Russia had forged a strong friendship under Bismarck, but that had long since faded. The German nobility had started to look down on the Russians, causing Russia to seek and alliance with France, which France graciously accepted. Russia had also supported Serbia and other Slavic and Baltic nations. The Germans were friends with the Ottomans. This was a nightmare for Russia, because that meant that Germany could control Russia’s trade in times of war because 90% of Russia’s trade went through the Dardanelles, a straight between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, which was controlled by the Ottomans.

England and Germany had actually admired each other strongly before the war. They admired each other culturally and industrially. Germany, especially admired the expansive British Colonial Empire and England’s massive and powerful navy. Many Germans felt that the key to England’s strength was their navy, this thinking lead to perhaps one of the greatest mistakes of the early 20th century, the building of the German fleet. The Kaiser, Wilhelm, decided to build the German navy to rival the British fleet, and actually designed it to specifically taunt the British. Winston Churchill, 1st Lord of the Admiralty at the time, suggested that both countries should temporarily cease shipbuilding, stating that, “For England, a navy is a necessity. For Germany, only a luxury.” Germany kept building ships. The German navy took 1/3 of the defense budget, meaning that they wouldn’t be able to afford a two-front war between France and Russia if one broke out. Throughout the entire war, there was extensive naval warfare between England and Germany, particularly with German submarines. Despite Germany having built huge super-dreadnought class battleships, with far more armor and firepower than British ships, never used them in battle. The German battleships just sat in their harbors, taunting the British until the crews on-board mutinied. This massive buildup of the German navy caused the British to out-build them, two to one, and further defensive arrangements with Russia and France. This was a grave error for Germany.

On July 28th, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia, this snowballed into the Great War. Now, on July 5th, 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany declared that Germany would unconditionally support Austria in any actions that they would take against Serbia. This is known as ‘the Blank Check’ and many consider this as the main argument for Germany being responsible for the war, but it is much more complicated than that. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a young Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip on the 28th of June, 1914. For many days afterward, there were anti-Serbian riots in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There were several official dispatches to Vienna about Serbian involvement, likely by outraged Austrian officials in Bosnia. Many European countries had mild reactions to the assassination, but Austria had big plans, many came from Army Chief of Staff, Konrad von Hotzendorf, a vehement imperialist for Austria and Austrian greatness. He was once described as “The most dangerous kind of officer, both stupid and intensely energetic.” In the year and a half before the war, he asked the emperor to go to war 26 times! The only person in power warning the emperor against war, was Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who had recently been killed. Hotzendorf viewed the assassination as a heaven-sent message to curb Serbian ambitions and go to war. In 1912, Kaiser Wilhelm told the Army Chief of Staff, von Moltke, and Grand Admiral, von Tirpitz, that “Austria had to act vigorously against the foreign slavs, if Russia were to support the Serbs, war would be inevitable for us.” Although in WW1, Russia is thought of as a backwater, by 1914, they had the world’s 4th largest economy. Previously, Russia had not been able to build and equip her army, as the Germans could because of shortage of money, more importantly, Russia’s railways were far worse. By 1914, Russian currency was on the gold standard and the railroads were booming, Russia would be able to easily and quickly defend her borders in only a few years. The German High Command was scared by this because Russia had an obvious manpower advantage, and once Russia’s railways were a match for Germany’s, the Russian army would be significantly stronger. The German chancellor believed that Germany must go to war with Russia before 1917, or they would be doomed. Germany had the largest socialist population out of any country in Europe. These, along with others, comprised a large anti-war movement in society.

On June 30, 1914, The Kaiser wrote “The Serbs must be disposed of and right soon!” Contrary to this, Wilhelm told his chancellor that he did not believe there was a real prospect of war and that Russia was not close to being ready for war. The next day, he went on his annual 3-week vacation cruise to Norway, showing that he really didn’t think that war was a possibility. On July 7, the Austro-Hungarian war cabinet met to discuss Serbia, they decided on war to reduce Serbia’s size and make her dependent on Austria. A secret report reached Vienna from Sarajevo on July 13, stating that the Serbian government had nothing to do with the assassination. This changed nothing and emperor Franz Joseph I was finally convinced that he could take action against Serbia without foreign intervention. He issued an ultimatum to Serbia, one important term being that the Serbian government must condemn all anti-Austrian propoganda and punish anyone who made or distributed it. The most important and outrageous term was that Austrian officials were to participate in the judicial process, in Serbia. With such outrageous demands, the ultimatum was obviously designed to be rejected. However, the Serbian government accepted the demands, the only exception being that they asked for the Austrian interference in Serbian court to be reviewed by the tribunal in the Hague, to make sure that it was internationally acceptable. Everyone, except Austria, thought that Serbia’s response was fine. Austria was determined to go to war . Russia even suggested that Austria should negotiate with Russia to sort this problem out, but Austria refused.

On July 28, Kaiser Wilhelm read the full text of the ultimatum and thought that Austria had no reason to go to war. He wrote, “A great moral victory for Vienna, but with it, every reason for war is removed.” An hour after he wrote this down, emperor Franz Joseph of Austria signed a declaration of war on Serbia. That declaration would turn out to be the death of the Austrian, German, Russian, and Ottoman empires.